


Out of Darkness

by Refreshingly_Original



Category: Frankie (TV 2013)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-22
Updated: 2016-05-22
Packaged: 2018-06-09 23:10:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6928033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Refreshingly_Original/pseuds/Refreshingly_Original
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When she was alone in the living room, Zoe turned away from the evidence of her terrorising, her brown eyes filled with unshed tears. She was horrified at what she’d done to the girl, not that she could really be called that, but it was none the less true. Oh how she wished she could turn back time and take back everything she’d done, especially now.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Out of Darkness

_I’m not mad._

Those were the first words to really register with her after finding Zoe in her lounge.

_I’m not mad._

Like that negates the fact that she broken into her house.

“I know it seems mad,” The older woman admitted clasping her hands tightly together, “I know this is the worst thing I could do, but there you go; these things happen.”

Arms crossed, Frankie stared at her, confused and angry, “So the stalking, and the ironing and the videoing,” She listed, glaring, “That was you.”

Taking a deep breath, she watched Zoe as she fidgeted on the settee. Was she…nervous?

“You stole my bag and came in here,” She continued as if she hadn’t seen it, “And you terrified me.”

“I’ll do right for doing wrong then,” The blonde said, as if she was just having a casual conversation with her, “You’re very vulnerable you know.”

Frankie held up her hand, shaking her head slightly, stopping the other woman, “I’m sorry, I’m finding this really confusing, why are you here?”

“Because,” Zoe hesitated, but before Frankie could say or do anything, she seemed to find herself and stood, “To warn you; it’s time you stopped undermining me, to mark your card.” When the nurse looked away from her, she gave a small smirk, “And if you’re thinking of calling someone, you can’t. I’ve unplugged the phone and your mobile’s in my pocket,” At the sight of the wide eyed look of terror, Zoe dropped her proud stance, “It’s the only way I can get you to listen,” She finished, her previously strong voice dropping to a whisper.

Opening her mouth to argue the fact, her mind turned back to the last time Zoe had actually tried talking with her. She’d answered the phone as she was telling her about her sons. She’d shut her down when she’d tried opening up. Sighing, the nurse nodded, “You’re right.”

“What?”                              

Smiling sadly at the stunned expression, Frankie repeated herself, “You’re right, I don’t listen. So why don’t we have a cuppa and sit and I’ll listen to whatever you want to say.”

“Tea?”

“Yes.”

Narrowing her eyes just slightly, Zoe looked for any sign of deceit, “Alright, tea.”

Nodding, Franking made her way her to the kitchen, moving carefully so as to not startle her. As she moved around her small kitchen, filling the kettle, Zoe leant back against the sink, watching her like a hawk. It wasn’t until she was adding the milk that she spoke.

“You could lose your job with the way you talk to me,” She said, her voice back to being the clipped tones from before, “You think you can get away with anything. You and your optimism, you’re-you’re big smile and can do!” She spat, her short tresses jerking with the sudden movement of her head.

“I’m sorry I’ve upset you Zoe,” Frankie said as she picked up the two mugs.

Following behind her as she carried the two teas to the small table, Zoe continued, “You think it’ll be that easy to win me over?” She asked, mostly out of curiosity, “I watch you, you and you’re team. Men, falling at your feet; you can’t get me like that.” Smiling slightly as the young woman pulled out her chair, she moved to sit, halting momentarily as she tried to remember the last time someone had done that for her.

“John Strider,” She said, remembering the dinner he’d taken her on shortly after her husband left her, “Do you know John?”

“Dr Strider? Yes.”

Nodding slowly, she continued, “Senor partner and a good friend; he’s worried about me,” She smiled, though she could tell Frankie knew it was fake, “Depressed,” She said, raising her hands to quote him, “But I’m not.”

Throughout the small monologue, Frankie drank from her mug, noticing that the second cup had remained untouched.

Looking away, she frowned, “I’ve done everything right my whole life, I worked hard, studied hard I…married well,” By this point she didn’t even try to hide the fact that she was close to crying, “I raised two great, clever boys; lovely boys.”

“You’ve not touched your tea.”

“There’s just so much to think about you see,” Zoe frowned having missed what she’d said, “What?”

Tipping her head, she looked at the tea.

“Oh, sorry,” The doctor apologized, picking the cup up for a sip. Swallowing, she lowered the cup back to the table and closed her eyes, letting out a deep sigh, “If only I could switch off,” She sniffed, “If there was a switch,” Looking up, she admitted in a soft whisper, “I’m so tired.

When she turned to face her, she was surprised to see the look of concern colouring her expression, “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I think you’re in some sort of crisis and need help and support,” Frankie said speaking softly, only to be cut of once more.

“That complaint, Liana Corden, you tried to ruin me.”

“That was you complaining about me, Zoe.”

“Sorry?”

“That was you Zoe,” She repeated, frowning, “You must be exhausted,” She said, knowing that for the older woman to mix something like that up, she was bound to be running on sheer will alone.

“W-Why do you care?”

“I’m worried Zoe,” Frankie leant forward, grasping her hand tightly.

“Of course you are,” She sneered, snatching back her hand, “You only care about yourself.”

Shaking her head, Frankie tried to take her hand again, “That’s not tru-”

Unfortunately at that precise moment the doorbell rung, jolting Zoe into snatching up the scissors lying on the table. From outside, her friend called, “Dinner is served!”

She had completely forgotten that she’d told Andy to come round after he’d finished for tea. Hanging her head, she sighed and stood up, “Let me tell him to-”

Spinning around, Zoe shook her head, tapping the blades against her leg, “No.”

“Zoe.”

“I’m not finished!”

For a moment Frankie hesitated in saying anything, but as Andy knocked on the door, calling out once more, she nodded, “Then let me tell him to leave.”

Blinking, Zoe tapping, “You’d do that?” She asked, disbelief shining clearly in her quiet question.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because I promised to listen,” She smiled just as another knock sounded, this time followed by the voice of her ex.

“Frankie?”

Rolling her eyes, she called out, not looking away from the taller woman, “Just a minute!”

When nothing was said afterwards, she tilted her head sideways, “Okay Zoe?”

Zoe gave a quick, jerky nod.

“Good, I’ll be right back,” She said, speaking soft as though talking to a scared child, “Promise.”

When she was alone in the living room, Zoe turned away from the evidence of her terrorising, her brown eyes filled with unshed tears. She was horrified at what she’d done to the girl, not that she could really be called that, but it was none the less true. Oh how she wished she could turn back time and take back everything she’d done, especially now. Turning her head upwards, she looked at the ceiling in hopes that she could keep the tears from falling. It didn’t. Breaking down wasn’t what she’d planned to do, but then again, she hadn’t actually planned on breaking in for a second time. How did her life get so out of control?

“Zoe?”

Jumping at the soft question, the older woman turned around, spotting Frankie standing in the doorway with a bag in each hand. Opening her mouth to respond, she found herself unsure of what to say, so she closed it and shook her head.

“Oh Zoe,” Frankie sighed, putting the bags on the chair, “It’ll be okay,” as she spoke, she gently took the large scissors from her hand and stepped back to put them on the table. When she turned back around, Zoe had her face covered, clearly trying to cover the almost silent sobs.

Taking both hands in her own, she pulled them down, glad that she wasn’t resisting, “Come here,” She whispered, pulling the older woman into a hug, “It’s okay, it’s okay.”

Pressing her face into the curve of the younger woman’s neck, Zoe sniffed, “I’m not stupid,” She cried, “I know I’ve stepped out of the frame.”

“You can always step back in again Zoe,” Frankie soothed, gently rubbing her hands around the thin woman’s back.

Zoe shook her head, “My partners won’t want me, my husband doesn’t want me, I’ve outlived my usefulness.”

“That’s not true!” Frankie argued.

“I know we can’t go back as if nothing’s happened,” she continued, as if Frankie hadn’t spoken.

Pulling back, Frankie frowned, “Why? No one knows about this, just you and me.”

“The-The men-” Stuttering, Zoe glanced towards the door where not even five minutes ago, the two people closest to Frankie had stood while she held the young woman at point with a pair of scissors.

“No,” This time it was Frankie who shook her head, “They don’t need to know about this.”

“But you’ve been to the police.”

“They were useless,” She scoffed, rolling her eyes. Looking back at the sniffling woman, she smiled, “Think about your boys.”

It was Zoe’s turn to scoff, “They won’t care; they won’t even notice.”

Pursing her lips at the dismissive response, Frankie tried another tactic, “This is empty nest syndrome Zoe,” She said, drawing the blondes attention back to her, “This is such a bad case, and it’s come on top of other things and the thing is, you’re exhausted.”

Zoe sighed, “I am.”

“Then nothing that happened to you tonight is terrible really,” At the look on the doctors face, she repeated herself a bit more forcefully, “No not really. You’re exhausted and a bit broken hearted, and I promise you, you will recover and you will put things right again. I promise.”

Sniffing, Zoe gave a half-hearted grumble, “There you go again, promising things.”

“I’ll never learn,” Frankie laughed, biting her bottom lip. For a moment, the two women shared an amused look before Frankie continued speaking, “Just you and me know what went on here tonight and we can sort this out.”

“You always think you can make things right.”

“Sometimes we can,” As she spoke, her stomach let out a low growl, causing her laugh, “But first, suppa.”

Smiling gratefully, Zoe nodded and followed the shorter woman as she carried the two plastic bags into the kitchen.

* * *

 

After eating and being chased from the kitchen, Zoe sat down on the lounge with Frankie promising to bring out another cup of tea for her after she finished the washing up. She’d tried to help, but considering they’d eaten from the containers, there wasn’t much to wash up, just their utensils and mugs from before. Sighing, she pulled her legs up, tucking herself into the corner of the sofa and looked out the window. Unsurpisingly, the street was lined with parked cars, yet very few of the houses had any lights on. God she was tired. Without meaning to, her eyes slipped closed and her head lulled to the side, resting against the back of the sofa, sound asleep.

That was how Frankie found her moments later. Sadly, the moment the nurse put the second mug down on the small wooden table, the blonde jolted awake, her eyes wide as she searched the room. Feeling bad for waking the exhausted woman, Frankie apologized, “I didn’t mean to wake you.”

Shaking her head, Zoe ran a hand through her hair, pushing it away from her face, “I shouldn’t have fallen asleep,” She sighed, reaching for the mug, “Thank you.”

“No problem,” Frankie replied, watching the older woman closely.

Neither of them spoke after that, each lost in their own thoughts. Frankie with her concern about the blonde, mostly trying to figure out when everything had started – she suspected when her husband filed for divorce – and why she had focused on her. Not that long ago they were sort of friends, well, perhaps not friends, but they were definitely on better terms then what they’d been on lately. But then what little interaction they had besides discussing patients, had stopped. That was around when Ian had moved in.

“Why’d you change the colour?”

Settling further back into her seat, Frankie raised her mug to sit in front of her, the steam warming her face as she spoke, “I needed a change, something to distract me from everything.”

Almost absentmindedly, Zoe admitted, “I liked the green,” But when no response was forthcoming, she turned in her place to see what was wrong. She wasn’t expecting to see the deer caught in headlights expression the young woman had, but it did the trick, “Oh I’m sorry, I-I didn’t mean to make you anymore uncomfortable,” She whispered, looking down into her mug.

Swallowing down her initial fear at the reminder, Frankie shook her head, “It’s fine Zoe,” She tried smiling, “Logically I know you’ve been in here, it just took me by surprise when you said it.”

Zoe nodded slowly, unsure if she could take the young nurses word to heart, “So why did you change it again?” She asked instead, turning back to look at the pale yellow fireplace.

Smiling as she drank her tea, Frankie scrunched up her nose, “Angie pointed out that it was a _‘Lovely shade of nursing home green’_.”

“Was it really?” When Frankie hummed in the affirmative, Zoe pulled a face, “Oh I take it back then.”

“Yeah, me too,” Frankie chuckled.

Falling into a comfortable silence, something neither of them had managed to do in well over a year, Frankie turned her thoughts back to everything Zoe had said that night. From there she remembered the surprise of coming home to a clean house, all her chores done. Without even conscious thought, she spoke her mind.

“You did my ironing.”

Turning right round to face the young blushing woman, her brows furrowed in worry, “Did-Did I do it wrong?”

Looking across to Zoe, Frankie could see that she was genuinely worried that she’d made a mistake with the ironing. Dropping her feet back to the floor, she reached across and took hold of her hand, squeezing it in reassurance, “No,” She cooed, “Zoe no, you didn’t, they were done perfectly.”

Relaxing, the blonde let out a breath she hadn’t realised she’d been holding, “Oh good,” She smiled quickly, fleetingly, “I’d hate to have ruined your uniform.”

Brows shooting up in surprise, Frankie let out a startled laugh, “You’re joking right,” She asked, a wide smile stretching across her lips, “I don’t think they’ve ever looked that good before.”

Giving the nurse a quivering smile, Zoe glanced away, “Comes with the territory of being a mother,” Shortly after speaking her barely there smile faded and she dropped her head, sighing. She could feel her already unstable emotions bubbling up again at the thought of her boys. Covering her face with her free hand, she turned away, embarrassed to be seen like that yet again.

Acting purely on instinct, Frankie moved beside her, pulling the taller woman into a one-armed hug, “Hey now, what’s the matter?” She asked, rubbing the arm under her hand.

Zoe shook her head, dropping her hand to wipe her nose, “I miss my boys,” She cried, letting her head fall to rest on the young woman’s shoulder.

“Oh,” She cooed softly, holding the shaking woman against her tighter, “Of course you do,” She whispered as she gently ran a hand through her hair, “They’re your children and they’ve been taken from you, of course you miss them.”

For a while after, neither spoke as Zoe cried, no doubt for the first time since everything had happened. _‘Men really are pigs,’_ Frankie thought, still brushing the light blonde hair. Even when Zoe calmed, she continued the motion.

Sighing deeply, Zoe whispered, “I’m so, tired.”

“Me too,” Frankie nodded, “Let’s go to bed, we’ll sort everything out tomorrow.”

Too tired to argue, the older woman let the shorter woman pull her up and over to the stairs. She was silent as she followed the brunette up the stairs and when she entered the room, she didn’t hesitate to strip down to change into the over-sized shirt tossed to her. In nothing but her underwear and shirt, Zoe climbed into the far side of the bed, sighing contently when her head came to rest on the soft pillow.

Flipping the switch for the light, Frankie removed her boots and jumper, and climbed in beside the blonde. Just as she settled in, the woman beside her spoke.

“My life was going to be um,” In the dark, Frankie could only just make out the flutter of the blondes lids as she fought to stay awake a moment longer, “I was going to do so much.”

Reaching out under the blanket, Frankie took hold of her hand, “And you will.”

“I’m so sorry.”

When nothing else followed, Frankie gave the hand she held one more squeeze and closed her eyes.

* * *

 

Unsurprisingly, even though her nightly ritual was disturbed, her morning one followed as if nothing had happened. Her alarm went off at seven, she rolled out of bed, contemplated waking the other woman – okay, so her morning wasn’t her usual one, but what could you do?

Deciding against waking her, she slipped on her jumper from the night before and headed down stairs, wanting nothing more than a cup of coffee. Passing the small radio, she flipped it on, mindful of the volume, before moving around to start on the coffee. Flicking the kettle on, she popped some bread into the toaster, all the while bobbing her head along to the music. Before she knew it, she was full on dancing around the small space as she went about getting everything ready for the coffee. Even when the kettle whistled, she didn’t stop. She didn’t really need to, after so many years handling hot things while dancing erratically she’d become rather proficient at it.

Timing was always a thing of difficulty for Frankie when it came to getting ready for work and managing to have something decent to eat before rushing out, but it seemed luck was on her side that morning. Just as she was finishing up the coffee, the toast popped, showing a lovely golden brown. Smiling, Frankie dropped them onto the waiting plate and put another two in. She wasn’t going to be the only one eating a decent meal that morning. Turning, she grabbed the larger mug of coffee and left the kitchen, heading back upstairs.

Stepping into her room silently, she found Zoe exactly how she left her, on her side, face pressed into her pillow, completely out of it. Smiling, she padded around to the far side and placed the cup on the night stand.

“Zoe,” She called softly, “Zoe time to wake up.”

For a moment Frankie thought she’d have to resort to shaking her, something she didn’t want to do considering how jumpy she was the last time she woke her, but then the blonde rolled over with a groan.

“What time is it?” She asked, blinking tiredly in hopes of clearing her eyes of sleep.

“Just past seven.”

Pushing herself up, Zoe rubbed at her face before stopping, having caught the nurses amused expression, “What?”

“Your hair,” She smiled, “It’s a mess.”

Zoe didn’t move, just stared at the brunette for a few beats before falling to the side and pulling the blanket back up, “You really know how to flatter a girl Frankie Maddox,” She intoned before yanking the blanket up further to hide herself from sight.

Laughing, Frankie left the room, pausing in the doorway long enough to call out, “I can give you ten more minutes in bed, but then you really need to get up if we’re to make it to work on time.”

From under the blanket Zoe groaned.

* * *

 

Back downstairs, Frankie found the second lot of toast ready, so with a large smile, she turned up the volume of the music and set about buttering the pieces and collecting the few spreads she had from the fridge. As she sang along to the upbeat music, she spun around, grabbing the two slightly cooler slices of toast and started layering on some of the raspberry jam on it.

“How are you this cheery?”

Looking up, Frankie shot the slow moving blonde a bright smile, “Music,” Was her simple answer.

Huffing softly, though her heart wasn’t in it, Zoe pulled out the stool from under the bench and sat, her large mug of coffee held firmly in her grasp. Settling with a sigh, she brushed her fringe from her eyes, “Thank you for the coffee.”

“No problem,” Frankie said around the bite of toast she’d just taken, “How’d you sleep?”

“Better than I have in months,” She admitted, giving the still standing woman a small smile, “May I?” She gestured to the other pieces of toast.

“Course, you’re going to need to keep your strength up, I have a feeling it’s going to be a hectic day.”

“When isn’t it?”

Laughing, Frankie conceded to the point with a tip of her head, “Okay,” She said, leaning against the bench top, “So the plan for this morning, we get dressed, swing by yours so you can change, don’t want people asking why you’re wearing yesterday’s clothes now do we,” She smiled, “And then go to work. Any questions?”

Having finished half of her coffee, Zoe was now far more awake so she responded with a shake of her head, “We can just head straight to work, I’ll change into the blouse I have stashed in my desk drawer.”

Pursing her lips to keep from smiling at the obvious workaholic, Frankie nodded, “Sounds good, now I get to shower.” Chugging back her coffee, the district nurse gave the doctor one last smile before leaving the kitchen, calling over her shoulder, “Help yourself!”

* * *

 

Later that afternoon, after finishing up with her last patient for the day, Frankie made her way to the centre. She had spent most of the day thinking about Zoe. She’d promised to help her, and while at the time she’d honestly had no idea how she was going to do that, after this morning, she’d thought of something. It just depended on how the older woman was going to react. Either way, she’d follow through on her plan, do what she always did; find a way to get her way.

Putting the car in park, she took a fortifying breath and hopped out. As she made her way through the front office and to the older woman’s personal exam room, she gripped her keys tightly in her hand to mask her nervousness. Smiling to the one woman to acknowledge her, she made a beeline for Zoe’s door, knocking loudly to announce her presence before walking in.

“Hello,” She greeted the blonde cheerfully as she came to a stop in front of her desk.

Looking up from where she was leaning over her paperwork, Zoe gave her a puzzled smile in return, “Good afternoon.”

“How are you?”

Eyebrows shooting up behind her fringe, Zoe didn’t respond to the question.

“Okay,” Frankie rocked back on her heels, stretching out her response.

Letting out a soft sigh, Zoe took pity on the young woman, “I’m fine, tired, but fine,” She said, standing up straight, “Was there something you needed?” She asked, noting the purple jacket the brunette had on. It looked like she was ready to head home.

“Actually yes,” the nurse smiled, “I was wondering if you were close to finishing?”

“Just a few more things to do before I can shut down for the day. Why?”

“I thought I’d drive you to yours.”

“That’d be lovely, thank you,” Zoe smiled, “Just give me a few moments and I’ll be ready.”

“Wonderful,” the brunette returned the smile, “I’ll just wait in the car yeah.”

Zoe nodded, “Of course.”

Smiling once more, Frankie turned and left, humming softly under her breath.

Once she was alone in the room, Zoe sighed and fell back into her chair, her polite smile falling from her lips. She’d admit, even if only in the safety of her own mind, that she was saddened not to be spending another night at the young woman’s home. It had been the best night’s sleep she’d had in months, and she was loathe to undo that by spending the next one in her own, empty house. She should have expected it, she had stalked the woman after all; actually, she should count herself lucky that she hadn’t turned her into the police.

“Stupid!” She hissed, scrunching her eyes closed, “Stupid!”

Taking a deep breath, she straightened herself out and set to work, not wanting to draw everything out any longer then she had to. Once she got home, she’d do what she always did, make dinner, do what little house work she had and go to bed to have a fitful night’s sleep. Shaking her head at how pitiful her life had become, she focused on her work, quickly entering the information and saving it before clicking her screen off. It was with a sigh that she grabbed her bag and coat. Checking her desk once more to make sure she hadn’t forgotten anything, she left the room with a determined stride. As she passed through the front office, she nodded to the lone woman still sitting behind the desk, bidding her a good night before she finally exited the building.

As there weren’t many people still there that late, it wasn’t hard to see the red car in the parking lot. So taking another deep breath, she marched over and without giving herself time to second guess her actions, she opened the door and hopped in, closing the door with more force then she intended.

“You okay?” Frankie asked, looking at her with a slight frown.

“Yes, just want to get out of here,” She sighed, leaning her head back against the seat, “It’s been a tiring day.”

“In that case, give me some directions and we’ll be there in a few short ticks,” Starting the car, she gave her a quick smile before pulling out of the lot, following the quiet instructions without a word.

When they pulled into the drive, Frankie felt her eyes widen in surprise. She hadn’t known what to expect, but what she saw certainly wasn’t it. While Zoe had described it as a family house - and it certainly would have looked it if there were children running around in the large front yard – from her first look at it, she thought it looked amazing, something from a catalogue. She would have loved to live in a house like that when she first started nursing, but now she knew she wouldn’t have been able to live comfortably in such a large space. She couldn’t even begin to imagine what the older woman felt now that she was. Glancing to her left, she saw Zoe looking at the building blankly.

“Well it’s big, but it’s not ugly,” She tried to smile as she gave the half-hearted joke, but it fell away as Zoe responded.

“It really was a lovely home, but I hate it now,” She admitted, her voice quieter then she’d ever heard, “With a vengeance.”

Not knowing how else to respond to such a statement, Frankie did what she did best, she spoke her mind, “Bloody men hey.”

Turning sharply, Zoe starred at the blushing woman, a hit of a smile curling her lips.

“Sorry,” Frankie whispered, glancing down, “It slipped out.”

Zoe shook her head, giving a sort of breathy laugh, “You are not wrong,” She sighed, turning away, “I um, thank you for th-” Stopping at the sound of the door opening, Zoe turned back to look at the young woman, “What?”

Already halfway from her seat, Frankie looked back, “What?”

“Why are you getting out?” Zoe asked as she opened her own door.

“Well I’m not just going to sit out here while you pack, am I?”

Frowning, Zoe got out and looked over the roof of the car, “Pack?”

Frankie gave her a bright smile as she leant against her car, “I’ve decided you’re going to stay with me until things get better for you.”

Blinking repeatedly, Zoe tried to wrap her mind around what she’d just heard, “Stay with you?” She repeated, almost as if she was talking to herself.

“Well I did promise we’d sort this out, didn’t I.”

Stunned, Zoe watched as the nurse walked around the car, pausing partway to the front entrance to ask if she was coming. Nodding, she gave a small hesitant smile. It was surprisingly easy for her to smile now, well, at least when she was around the young woman. She was just so genuine when she cared and she oozed cheerfulness, it was hard not to get swept up in it. Leaning back in, she grabbed her keys from her bag and joined the brunette, unlocking the door quickly.

_‘Wow!’_ Frankie mouthed as Zoe led her to the back of the house and into the large open kitchen.

Dropping her keys onto the bench, the blonde turned to face her, “Would you like something to drink?”

Smiling, Frankie shrugged out of her coat, “I won’t say no to a cuppa,” Slipping on to the high stool, she draped the purple material over the back of the second stool.

Nodding, Zoe set about gathering the things she needed, “Of course,” She paused, looking over her shoulder as the kettle boiled, “Why are you doing this?” She asked, a frown creasing her brow.

“Truthfully?”

Zoe nodded.

“Because being on your own won’t do you any good,” Frankie spoke honestly, hoping that by being up front about what she thought, the older woman would be more responsive to her suggestions and opinions, “Correct me if I’m wrong, but this started after James left right,” She waited for the older woman to nod, “He took your boys and in doing so, he took away a major part of you and since then, you started working more to fill in all the free time you now have,” Another nod, “Being a mother has become such a large part of your identity that when it was taken away from you, your world fell apart and you tried to put it back into place by taking on that identity again for someone else. You’ve been losing sleep for months and piled on top of the stress from work, you fixated on one thing, which just so happened to be me; am I right?”

“Yes,” She swallowed, her voice thick with emotion, “But that doesn’t tell me why you’re inviting me to stay with you, especially after- after everything I did.”

Smiling slightly to let her know she wasn’t angry, Frankie shook her head, “You need someone to look after Zoe; but you also need someone to care for you.”

“And that’s you?”

“I don’t need you to be my mother Zoe,” Frankie said bluntly but not unkindly, “But I would like us to be friends.”

Biting bottom lip, Zoe nodded, a small hopeful smile turning up the corners of her mouth “I’d like that as well.”

* * *

 

Shutting and locking the door, Zoe it her bottom lip as she stared up at what was once her home. She hadn’t been lying when she said she hated it. The second her boys were taken from her, it had become merely the place she resided in while not at work, nothing more. It had lost all meaning. Behind her, loading her suitcase and duffle into the boot of the car was Frankie. She couldn’t believe that this was happening, that the young woman was opening her home to her after the atrocities she’d committed. Inhaling deeply, she shook her hair from her face and turned around.

“You ready Zoe?”

Glancing back over her shoulder once more, the blonde nodded, “Yes, I am.”

 


End file.
